B-Hop vs Dwight Muhammad Qawi @175

What we do know for sure is that Hopkins had the stones to go up to 175 and even as an old man have a red hot crack and take on the best of the division.

 

John, are you implying Hagler ducked the lightheavies by any chance? I will give you credit in this post because he did fight Kovalev. But the rest of the 175 pounders he faced was a mediocre bunch. And didn't you write in an earlier post in another thread that Hopkins had outgrown 160 and was refreshed at 175 and that's why he went up?

 

If this fight is 15 Hopkins never makes the end

 

What i am implying is that guys that were long term fighters at a certain weight before moving up have my respect, particularly those doing the middleweight/light heavyweight as historically it is a very very difficult jump. I'm not talking guys like Ezzard Charles etc who grew into the weight beautifully. Guys like Hopkins and in the lighter divisions Duran who reigned for quite some time before going all the way to Welter. It's impressive stuff, particularly when they beat the best there whoever that may be. As a boxing fan that gets my appreciation.

The "mediocre" bunch Hopkins faced started with the best light heavyweight in the world at that time Antonio Tarver. Tarver was coming off a second win over Roy Jones Jr and was considered top dog. You can only face the best of your time and boxing had long rolled on from Qawi, Saad, EMM, Spinks and co.

Yes i said Hopkins was a dead duck at 160 by the time he moved up, absolutely i did. Take note however that he didn't stop in at 168 he went straight up to 175 and made a beeline for the top dog. That cannot be taken away.

Some solid names moved up and met Hopkins after that - Winky Wright was P4P #3 when they fought, Joey Calz was top #3 P4P when they fought, Pavlik the reigning 160 champ etc.

Pascal was the top dog and lineal 175 pound champ when Hopkins beat him. You can only beat the best and that's exactly what he did, again. I'd never term the best in the world (which Tarver and Pascal were) "mediocre".

Even if one casts out age and says he started late etc etc he did all this 18+ years into his career. He took on Kovalev after 26 years of professional boxing, double the years many ATG's fought. His efforts certainly aren't something i'd scoff at.

I'll answer your post in the other thread soon as i can Clint. It was a big night of Ashes last night.

 

Cheers John. But obviously I don't rate Tarver and Pascal as highly as you do. The 175 pound division was very weak in Hopkins' time. When Bhop fought Tarver, Antonio had already lost to guys like Harding, Glen Johnson and shot Roy Jones. As far as Winky is concerned, I really like and respect him. But he did not belong at 170. I have no idea whatsoever why Hagler gets stick for fighting smaller men (albeit atgs) but Bhop gets a free pass for doing the same. And just for the record, I would take Leonard, Hearns and Duran over DeLaHoya, Tito and Winky any day. As far as Calzaghe is concerned, he was not only at the end of the line and in his mid late 30 but had never fought at 175 before. Plus Bernard had turned down a Calzaghe fight years before after agreeing in principal to it.

 

I cannot see any other possible outcome. Bernard was working with the likes of Oscar, Tito ect as a LHW at MW Qawi got fat and decided he wanted to fight George Foreman they’re not the same kind of men lol.

 

One of the worst beatdowns in the history of boxing: Bernard would get his ass kicked by Dwight for the full 15 rounds. He would barely survive, but he would lose a wide decision.

 

Qawi would make that overrated clown cry uncle.

 

He was always a light heavy expect on the day of the weigh in.

 

I love BHOP but Qawi's just too strong and powerful, Qawi by mid rounds ko.

 

Muhammad would beat him up on the inside. He's too physical for Bernard here.
Not sure Hopkins would actually want this fight at all!

 

I think people are actually sleeping on Bernards boxing IQ.
Hopkins isn't going to stand in front of Dwight and he would tie Dwight up if he had to and wouldn't care how boring the fight would be.
Spinks who is a great lightheavy confused Dwight with movement and Hopkins moves alot better then Spinks did.
I see Bernard in an ugly fight winning.

 

Spinks is far superior to Hopkins at Light Heavyweight and hits way harder, Spinks got Qawi's respect early with his power. Remember Spinks had one punch KO and was a very dangerous puncher, Hopkins doesn't possess anywhere near the power Spinks has. So Hopkins wouldn't be able to get Qawi's respect like Spinks did.

I think your underrating Qawi's boxing IQ, he wasn't just some aggressive run of the mill come forward fighter. He had great head movement, superb countering, great jab. There's no way Hopkins would be able to stop, a prime Qawi from getting inside and beating him up. And all that clinching wouldn't effect Qawi either, he was very physical fighter himself.

 

The entire fact of the matter is Spinks movement bothered Qwai and he could not deal with that. Of course Spinks is a greater lightheavy but Bernard can fight more then one way and Qwai simply cannot.
Hopkins does not have to stop Qwai he just has to nullify him.
Qwai gets an insane amount of hype off of Saad which Saad was on his last legs when they fought.
Spinks landed a big righthand in the 1rst round what about the other 14 rounds? Qwai for all this talk about how slick he isjust followed Spinks around the ring for 14 rounds.

 

Hopkins was tough and crafty enough to hang in there and take the entire 15 rounds worth of beating that the sadistic Qawi would put on him. Dwight would revel in the punishment he dished out and BHop would wave him in for more.

This is not terribly competitive IMO.